Momentum
by lydiamaartin
Summary: Because every princess should have a prince, right? - LilyLorcan


**Disclaimer: Don't own anybody you recognize.**

**Happy one-year anniversary, Prim! This is dedicated to PrimroseAmelia, an awesome person and writer that I met over on the Next-Gen Fanatics forum. And today is her first anniversary of being on this site! Congrats, Prim! Hope you like this! :D**

**Also written for limegreenrocks's Crack Pairings challenge on HPFC, with the prompts 'independence', 'princess', and 'party'.

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**She's eighteen.

_Eighteen_.

She's never been so scared in her life.

Lily sighs, brushing back a strand of strawberry hair, and dips her legs into the refreshingly cool water of the little pond in the Burrow's backyard. Behind her, cheers and laughter and jokes all blend together in one giant cacophony of noise. There's dancing and food and drinks – and it's all for her.

And she _hates_ it.

"Firecracker?" asks a voice from behind her. "You all right?"

Lily twists around to flash a smile at the intruder. "Hey, Lorcan. I'm fine, thanks."

Lorcan Scamander grins in greeting and plops down next to her. "You don't seem fine. Aren't you enjoying the party?"

"Well, maybe not," she admits, because he's Lorcan and her best friend and she's never been able to lie to him. "I'm just scared, Lorc. I've always been the baby of the family – I'm the youngest, the most spoiled, the one who never had to worry about anything. And now I'll be moving out and getting a job and living on my own and – "

"I thought this crisis was what the seventeenth birthday was for," Lorcan teases, nudging her shoulder. "You're a year late, Firecracker."

Lily giggles. "I am not. I'm going to be _graduating_ in a couple of months, Lorc. At seventeen, all I had to worry about was NEWTs. Now there's all this new stuff, all these new problems."

"Think about it as an opportunity," he advises. "You'll have independence – no overprotective, nosy family members, no brothers threatening away every bloke who looks at you twice, no sharing the bathroom, none of that."

"But also no Al reading me stories at night," she points out wistfully. "No James to bicker with. No Mum to make me breakfast."

"Oh, stop dwelling on the negatives," he tells her, grinning. "Didn't you and Lucy have plans to find a flat together and rent it for a while? You'll have her, won't you?"

Lily cranes her neck and sees Lucy dancing in the middle of the backyard, surrounded by a gaggle of friends and boys. "Yeah, but she's such a social butterfly – it'll be a miracle if she's ever home during the day. Plus, she has that shiny, cushy Ministry job all lined up for her."

"Says the girl who got accepted into the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts," Lorcan grins, teasing a smile out of her. "C'mon, Firecracker, cheer up! You're the princess of this party, aren't you? Let's have some fun! When's the next time you're going to be able to celebrate something as special as this?"

She opens her mouth to respond, but he hastily interrupts her by saying, "That's right, _never_."

"You're not too good at this pep talk thing," she teases.

"Shut up," Lorcan snorts. "Now, do I have to force you to have some fun?"

Lily crosses her arms. "Yes," she says resolutely, just to annoy him. "You do."

Lorcan grins mischievously. "All right, then. Your call."

And then he lunges forward and begins tickling her.

"Lorcan!" Lily squeals, pulling out of the pond and clambering backwards in an attempt to escape his merciless fingers. "Lorcan, stop it! Lorcan!"

He falls on top of her from the momentum and finally stops when they're both lying on the grass, his body barely balancing on top of hers, their faces really (_really_) close. Lily blinks, her lashes brushing his cheeks, hazel-brown into silver-blue, and the teasing atmosphere fades in an instant, replaced by a thick (sexual) tension.

"Oh," she breathes, for want of anything else to say, trying not to focus on how his breath – cinnamon and mango and _Lorcan_ – ghosts across her face or how the look in his eyes is inducing butterflies in her stomach.

"Um," he adds intelligently. "Lily, I – "

Without waiting for him to finish, she leans up and closes the gap between them in a matter of seconds. Because, after all, Lily Luna Potter is the princess of this party, and every princess deserves a prince, right?

_Right_?

Right.

Because he's kissing her back and the background music fades and the stars melt in the skies above them and her whole being is completely, utterly at peace, because this is Lorcan and he can make her feel like the happiest girl on Earth, because with him, she truly _is_.

Lorcan draws back first, seeming a little bemused. "Um, Lily…"

"Hm?" she asks, opening her eyes slowly. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he tells her, silver-blue eyes bright and honest. "Just – happy birthday, Firecracker."

Lily giggles. "Thanks."

And then she yanks him down for another kiss.

Independence has never tasted so good.

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**Author's Notes: Don't favorite with reviewing, please and thank you :) If you read it, please do drop me a review and tell me what you thought! Thank you!**


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